Qualcomm's New Snapdragon S4: MSM8960 & Krait Architecture Explored
by Brian Klug & Anand Lal Shimpi on October 7, 2011 12:35 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Snapdragon
- Arm
- Qualcomm
- Krait
- MDP
- Mobile
- SoCs
Cache & Memory Hierarchy
Qualcomm has a three level exclusive cache hierarchy in Krait. The lower two levels are private per core, while the third level is shared among all cores. Qualcomm calls these caches L0, L1 and L2.
Each Krait core has an 8KB L0 cache (4KB instruction + 4KB data cache). The L0 cache is direct mapped and accessible in a single cycle. Qualcomm claims an 85% hit rate in this level 0 cache, which helps save power by not firing up the larger L1 cache. The hierarchy is exclusive so L0 data isn't necessarily duplicated in L1.
Each core also has a 32KB L1 cache (16KB instruction + 16KB data). The L1 4-way set associative and can also be accessed in a single cycle. There's no way prediction at work here. With 1 cycle latency to both L0 and L1, the primary advantage here is power.
| Krait Cache Architecture | |||||
| Size | Architecture | Frequency | |||
| L0 | 4KB + 4KB | Direct Mapped | Core | ||
| L1 | 16KB + 16KB | 4-way set associative | Core | ||
| L2 | 1MB (dual core) or 2MB (quad core) | 8-way set associative | 1.3GHz max | ||
The L2 cache is shared among all cores. In dual-core designs the L2 cache is sized at 1MB (up from 512KB in Scorpion), while quad-core Krait SoCs will have a 2MB L2. Krait's L2 cache is 8-way set associative.
While the L0 and L1 caches operate at core frequency and are on the same voltage plane as their associated core, the L2 cache is separate. To save power the L2 cache runs at its own frequency (up to 1.3GHz depending on the currently requested performance level). The L2 cache is on its own power plane and can be power gated if necessary.
Although Scorpion featured a dual-channel LPDDR2 memory controller, in a PoP configuration only one channel was available to any stacked DRAM. In order to get access to both 32-bit memory channels the OEM had to implement a DRAM on-package as well as an external DRAM on the PCB. Memory requests could be interleaved between the two DRAM, however Qualcomm seemed to prefer load balancing between the two with CPU/GPU accesses being directed to the lower latency PoP DRAM. Very few OEMs seemed to populate both channels and thus Scorpion based designs were effectively single-channel offerings.
Krait removes this limitation and now OEMs can utilize both memory channels in a PoP configuration (simply put two 32-bit DRAM die on the PoP stack) or in an external configuration. The split PoP/external DRAM organization is no longer supported. This change will hopefully mean we'll see more dual-channel Krait designs than we saw with Scorpion, which will in turn improve performance.
Process Technology and Clock Speeds
Krait will be the world's first smartphone CPU built on a 28nm process. Qualcomm is working with both TSMC and Global Foundries, although TSMC will produce the first chips. Krait will be built, at first, on TSMC's standard 28nm LP process. According to Qualcomm there's less risk associated with TSMC's non-HKMG process. Qualcomm was quick to point out that the entire MSM8960 SoC is built on a 28nm LP process compared to NVIDIA's 40nm LPG design in Kal-El. From Qualcomm's perspective, 40nm G transistors are only useful at reducing leakage at high temperatures but for the majority of the time a homogeneous LP design makes more sense.
Just like Scorpion, Krait places each core on its own voltage plane driven at its own clock frequency. Cores can be clocked independently of one another, which Qualcomm insists gives it a power advantage in many workloads.
The first implementation of Krait will be in a dual-core 1.5GHz MSM8960, however a second revision of the silicon will be introduced next year that increases clock speed to 1.7 - 2.0GHz. Qualcomm claims that at the same 1.05V core voltage, Krait can run at 1.7GHz vs. 1.55GHz for Scorpion. At these two clock speeds and at the same voltage, Qualcomm tells us that Krait consumes 265mW of power vs. 432mW running an undisclosed workload. Although it should be possible to draw more power than Scorpion under load, Krait should hopefully be able to improve overall power efficiency by completing tasks quicker and thus dropping down to idle faster than its predecessor. Smartphone and tablet battery life should remain the same at worst and improve at best, as a result.
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metafor - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
Scorpion does support dual-channel, however, the 8x60 series does not have two controllers. The 8x55/7x30 does, however and in most cases, are used in the configuration you described in the article.ArunDemeure - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
I knew MSM7x30/8x55 was dual-channel but I thought it was also available as a 64-bit LPDDR2 PoP solution? While it makes sense for most people to use it as single-channel LPDDR2 as opposed to dual-channel LPDDR1 these days, why would anyone ever have used both PoP and non-PoP DRAM at the same time? Maybe that old leaked presentation on Baidu listing all the MSM7x30/8x55 packages is wrong though.metafor - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
A single Scorpion and Adreno 205 just didn't need both channels. It makes more sense for a lot of OEM's to use single 32-bit LPDDR2.ArunDemeure - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
Hmm, that would certainly be news to me, it's possible but you'd still need a second memory controller and PHY so it makes very little sense. I can see a few possibilities:- The LPDDR2 and DDR2 subsystems aren't shared so in theory for tablets you could do 32-bit SiP LPDDR2+32-bit off-chip DDR2. Seems weird but not impossible.
- You can do 32-bit ISM+32-bit PoP. Once again, why do this? Were they limited by package pins with a 0.4mm pitch? Seems unlikely with a 14x14 package but who knows.
- You can genuinely do 32-bit PoP+32-bit on the PCB. Still seems really weird to me.
The MSM7200(A) had a separate small LPDDR1 chip (16-bit bus with SiP) reserved mostly for the baseband while the primary OS-accessible DRAM was off-chip. This was obviously rather expensive (fwiw Qualcomm only 'won' that generation on software and weak competition IMO) and removed it to reduce cost (making the chip's memory arbitrage more complex) on the MSM7227. I'm not sure about the QSD8650, maybe it still optionally had that extra memory bus (SiP-only) but it was more flexible and never used, it's hard to find that kind of info.
Cheers,
Arun
mythun.chandra - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
Anand,Isn't this what I had pinged you about earlier?
z0mb13n3d - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
I suggest you look into the facts before passing such statements.I don't know where you or the OP are getting your information from (3GHz A15's, quad 2.5GHz Kraits hitting next year, Kraits using HKMG etc.), but that's been pretty inaccurate. All you're doing is speculating based on bits and pieces floating around in PDF's and slides. I still remember one of his claims from the previous thread '2x A15's > 4xA9's' . While no one in their right sense of mind would argue that a the wider, deeper, single A15 is better than a single A9, to make such an uninformed, blanket statement (and to back it up with useless DMIPS numbers!) just doesn't bode very well.
ArunDemeure - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
ST-Ericsson has publicly indicated the A9600's A15s can run at up to 2.5GHz, and GlobalFoundries has publicly said that the A9600 uses their 28nm SLP process which uses High-K but not SiGe strain. Is it really hard to believe a 28HPM or 28HP A15 could easily reach 3GHz? I'm not sure anyone will do that in the phone/tablet market, but remember ARM also wants A15 to target slightly larger Windows 8 notebooks and (I'm not as optimistic about this) servers.As for Krait, Qualcomm's initial PR mentioned 2.5GHz (not just random slides) and APQ8064 is on TSMC 28HPM which uses High-K. If you don't trust either me or metafor on that, Qualcomm has also publicly stated that most of their chips will run on SiON but that they were considering High-K for chips running at 2GHz or above: http://semimd.com/blog/2011/02/07/qualcomm-shies-a...
As for 2xA15 vs 4xA9, metafor's point is that most applications are still not sufficiently multithreaded. It has very little to do with DMIPS which is a worthless outdated benchmark (not that Coremark is perfect mind you - where oh where is my SPECInt for handhelds? Development platforms could support enough RAM to run it by now). Unlike him I think 4xA9 should be relatively competitive even if clearly inferior in some important cases, and as you imply it's a difficult and even fairly subjective topic, but I don't think metafor's opinion is unreasonable.
z0mb13n3d - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
That is the point I'm trying to make! Semiconductor companies, by virtue of the fact that they have to sign OEM/ODM deals before they really even have working products almost always posture about how much their designs can go 'up to' or 'indicate' ratings and numbers. My beef with the earlier thread was that statements were being passed on as facts based purely on stuff posted in press releases. I can tell you, for a fact, that no 2.5GHz Krait (dual or quad) based product will be shipping in '12. I can also tell you for a fact that you will not see anything more than 1.8-2.2GHz (optimistic) in shipping A15's for mobile devices. I understand the A15 architecture is capable of much more, but to try and draw comparisons between a near-shipping mobile-spec quad-core A9 and an on-paper 3GHz A15 powering servers is not correct!If you did follow the previous thread closely, you will see that this was the only point I was trying to get across, in vain. No matter how you slice and dice it, the 2xA15 > 4xA9 argument is wrong. This is very similar to what we're seeing in the x86 market with Intel and AMD where the older, tri and quad core AMD's are still able to keep-up with or beat dual-core Intel's in threaded situations. Now it is an entirely different argument as to whether or not Google/MS/whoever else makes effective use of multi-core CPU's in their current mobile platforms and their relatively crude/simple kernels (as compared to desktop operating systems), but come Windows 8, I am willing to bet that quad core (or multi-core in general) SoC's will prove their worth.
ArunDemeure - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
ST-E could underdeliver on the A9600, sure, but they've got a better process than OMAP5 and enough clever power saving tricks up their sleeve (some of which still aren't public) that I feel it's quite likely they won't. Remember 2.5GHz is only their peak frequency when a single core is on - they have not disclosed their throttling algorithms (which will certainly be more aggressive for everyone in the 28nm generation, especially on smartphone SKUs as opposed to tablets where higher TDPs are acceptable).Also multiple companies will be making A15s on 28HPM eventually. TSMC has indicated they have a lot of interest in HPM, and that should certainly clock at least 25% higher than GF's Gate-First Non-SiGe 28SLP. However the problem is that the A15 is quite power hungry, so I expect people will use that frequency headroom to undervolt and reduce power although a few might expose it with a TurboBoost-like mechanism. On the other hand, exposing the full 3GHz for Windows 8 on ARM mini-notebooks should be a breeze, and I don't see why you'd expect that to be a problem.
As for 2.5GHz Quad-Core Krait in 2012 - I think they're still on schedule for tablets in late 2012, but then again NVIDIA was still on schedule for tablets in August 2011 back in February, so it's impossible to predict these things. Delays happen, and it'd be foolish not to take metafor seriously simply because he is unable to predict the unpredictable.
Finally, 2xA15 vs 4xA9... metafor's point is that given the lower maturity of multithreading on handheld devices, it's more like high-end quad-core Intel CPUs beating eight-core AMD CPUs in the real world. As I said I'm not sure I agree, but it's fairly reasonable.
dagamer34 - Saturday, October 8, 2011 - link
I doubt it was a delay as much as nVidia being boastful. They've quite known for that.